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Ohio State names new vice president and chief human resources officer

The Ohio State University, following a successful national search, has named Kathleen McCutcheon vice president and chief human resources officer in the Office of Human Resources.

In her new role, McCutcheon will oversee a staff of more than 150 professionals — along with a dotted-line reporting relationship with human resources leaders in colleges and vice presidential units — who maintain the human resource functions for more than 27,000 faculty and staff.

McCutcheon, who last worked as senior vice president, human resources for American International Group’s Retirement Services (AIGRS), will begin her appointment June 27 pending approval by the Board of Trustees, which meets June 24.

“With more than 25 years of experience leading the human resources efforts of large organizations, Kathleen will bring particular expertise to Ohio State’s ongoing commitment to supporting our academic mission, enhancing our culture, simplifying and streamlining our processes and systems and refining and implementing our talent strategy,” said Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee.

McCutcheon said she is thrilled with the opportunity to help a world-class university reach a preeminent level.

“There is always a component of excitement and the unknown when a new leader comes into the organization, and I’m looking forward to meeting each person in the Office of Human Resources, understanding what they do, listening to their ideas and making the university a great place to work, not only in human resources but overall,” she said. “I am honored to be able to lead a human resources team of the quality of Ohio State’s, and the sky’s the limit.”

While with AIGRS from 2002-10, McCutcheon was vice president, human resources before being named senior vice president. In that latter role, she was the executive leader for all global strategic and operational aspects of human resources policies, practices and programs. Working with the senior leaders of AIGRS, McCutcheon and the human resources organization were able to successfully unify multiple diverse units relative to policies, procedures and culture, all the while allowing each company to retain their uniqueness to be successful in their particular industries.

For McCutcheon, coming to Ohio State is a bit of a coming-home party. She grew up in Cleveland and attended Cleveland State University and the University of Dayton for her undergraduate degree in psychology.

“It’s nice to come home again, and you don’t get to do that often in life,” she said.

McCutcheon, who has worked in the insurance, financial, medical and aerospace industries, said her career choices have never been industry-specific. Instead she looks for the opportunities where she believes she can be most effective.

“What I’m strong at is the ability to craft a vision for the organization from an HR standpoint based on the business goals of the greater enterprise,” she said. “I have been successful in coaching the HR organization and developing the organization to be able to deliver relative to those goals, being proactive, innovative and sharing vision across the function.”

McCutcheon was director of human resources from 2000-02 for AIG’s Personal Lines Division. Prior to that she had stops at CIGNA, The St. Paul Co., AlliedSignal Corp., SmithKline Beecham and Citibank. During her career, she spent significant time working with her various companies’ international divisions, including Puerto Rico, Italy, Canada, Brazil, India and Japan.

McCutcheon replaces interim Vice President for Human Resources Kim Shumate, who temporarily took over the Office of Human Resources after Larry Lewellen was named vice president of care coordination and health promotion in the Ohio State Medical Center.

“We want to acknowledge the exceptional work of Kim Shumate, who has served as interim vice president for Human Resources since March,” Gee said. “During the past few months, she has effectively combined her deep legal knowledge and leadership abilities to advance key human resources initiatives.”